He has Leaned

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

Inclined-having a physical tendency; leaning. dictionary.com

What an encouragement this verse is to me. The Lord has leaned towards me making Him closer to me. He's near to me for He has placed Himself closer to me, but why? Why should He incline Himself to me, why should He tilt His head so that His ear is closer to me than before? So that He can hear what I have to say!

He has not been forced to hear me. God was not sitting on His throne and, because I was near to Him, He happened to hear what I had to say. Nay, but He has positioned Himself so that He may hear me. He loves and is concerned with what I have to say. He delights in hearing my voice therefore, He has positioned Himself to be nearer to me; as a parent bends over closer to a child's mouth to better hear what the his beloved child should want to say.

Oh, joy above all joys, My God, My Savior, My Friend, longs to be nearer to me and to speak with me. Oh, That I might not take this precious treasure for granted, but that I might cherish and come before the One who is so willing to hear my cries.

Walking with Integrity of Heart

I was reading in Psalm 101 and verse 2 stuck out to me.  It says, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.”  What an amazing thing! This means walking with the Lord and being righteous even when you are alone.  It is easy when you are around people to look or act like the type of Christian you know you ought to be; but when you are in the comforts of your own home you let yourself go.  It is easy to let your mind wander to unprofitable things.  It is easy to let down your guard and watch, read, or even do things you would never do around other people. 

The next verse, verse 3, says “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.” This could mean any number of things.  It could mean books, movies, TV shows, things on the internet; whatever it may be it must NOT have leeway in your life.  When you allow something worthless to set before your eyes you are allowing your brain to take that thing in. Your brain wonders “how would that feel,” “What would that be like,”  “what does that taste like?” or any number of other things.  When something is set before your eyes your heart is being fed from it; whether, it is good and profitable or junk and worthless.  Therefore, when worthless things are set before you, your heart is turned towards those things. It is harder to walk in integrity of heart anywhere, especially in your home. 

With this in mind let us strive to walk in integrity of heart in our homes.  To do this we must nurture our relationship with God and take care of it.  We must cast out anything that will be a stumbling block,  no matter how drastic we have to be we MUST get rid of it! Christ says “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; it is better for you to lose on part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matt 5:29-30)  May we see sin as we ought and have the desire and will power, through Christ,  to get rid of it.

No good thing will God withhold

"He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord."  ~Psalm 113:9
The reason this verse stood out to me was because it says that this woman was "barren."  This barrenness was caused by sin.  Think about it, the whole reason why there is sickness, death, and other sorrows is because of the fall of man.  Had it not been for man sinning against God we would not know these heartaches.
This woman very much desired to have children but God withholds this thing from her, not because He is a dream killer and He doesn't want her to be happy, but because He loves her and knows that it isn't in her best interest to have children.
"He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children."  Though, she is not able to have children, God still gives her joy.  God will not forbid that which your heart most desires and give you something that will give you less joy.  He will give you something that will give you just as much joy if not more than you ever hoped to have.
God does not withhold good things from His children if He does not intend to give them something greater.
You see here that the work of God benefited both the children and the woman and so it will be with the gifts God gives us.  The gift will benefit not only us but everyone involved or around us.
God has planned the beginning, the end, and the means by which we will get to the end.  "Praise the LORD!"